HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee, and MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin—The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index ended October with a 21.7-percent increase to 2,005 and is down 15.2 percent year-to-date 2011. The index ended 2010 at 2,364.

Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) and STR partnered to create the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index—the first widely available U.S. hotel stock index in the hotel industry. The index combines Baird’s financial markets expertise, the data processing of STR and the up-to-the-minute distribution capabilities of HotelNewsNow.com, the industry’s leading news website.

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index outperformed the S&P 500 Index and the MSCI REIT Index (RMZ). The S&P was up 10.8 percent in October, and the RMZ ended the month with a 14.2-percent increase.

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“The roller coaster that the global economy has been on continues to leave investors with questions, although it looks like they are finally starting to gain back some confidence in the markets,” said Randy Smith, co-founder and chairman of STR. “This was the first monthly increase the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index reported since May, which is an encouraging sign that investors like the performance metrics of hotels, which generally have held up well throughout the year. However, lingering concern surrounding the European debt crisis might have a negative impact on the hotel industry in 2012.”

"Hotel stocks rebounded sharply in a highly volatile market during October as investor sentiment has begun to improve," said David Loeb, senior hotel research analyst and managing director at Baird. "Third quarter earnings reports have generally been strong and they have confirmed that the hotel recovery remains on track despite all the macroeconomic headwinds. We continue to have a positive view on hotel stocks heading into 2012."

As of 1 October 2011, the composition of the Index is changed, with the addition of Strategic Hotels & Resorts (BEE) and the removal of Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT). Strategic’s implied market capitalization is approximately $800 million while Ashford’s is about $575 million. A complete list of the stocks in the index can be found at www.hotelstockindex.com.

About the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index was set to equal 1,000 on 1 January 2000, as its starting point. The Index reached its peak of 3,178 on 5 July 2007. The Index’s lowest point occurred on 6 March 2009, when it dropped to 573.

The Index is available exclusively on www.hotelstockindex.com and www.HotelNewsNow.com. The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index is a co-branded index created by Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) and Smith Travel Research, Inc. (STR). The market-cap weighted Index is comprised of 15 of the largest market capitalization hotel companies publicly traded on a U.S. exchange and attempts to characterize the performance of hotel stocks. The Index is maintained by Baird and is hosted on HotelNewsNow.com. The Index is not actively managed and a direct investment cannot be made in it.

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